Fig. 3.

Garlic- and single garlic-derived organic polysulfide-induced vasoactivity and H₂S production of PE-precontracted rat aorta rings at physiological O₂ levels. Representative simultaneous traces of vasoactivity (blue line) and H₂S production (red line) in a 15-ml organ bath of Krebs–Henseleit buffer (pH 7.35) at 37°C containing 5 μM indomethacin and 100 μM L-NAME, with 100 nM PE and 1 mM GSH additions at arrows with alterations of O₂ from 196 to 50 μM at the dashed line and 500 μg/ml garlic addition at the arrow (A) and alterations of O₂ from 100 to 30 μM at the dashed line and addition of 100 μM each AMS and DADS at the arrows (B). (C and D) Percentage vasorelaxation of aorta rings supported by 50, 200, and 500 μg/ml garlic (black bars) compared with 20 μM H₂S (white bar) (C; each bar represents the mean ± SD of four to six experiments) and 100 μM each DPDS, AMS, DAS, DADS, or DATS, as well as ethanol vehicle and 20 μM H₂S (D; each bar represents mean ± SD of three to nine experiments). Endothelium-intact aortic segments (black bars) are compared with endothelium-denuded segments (white bars). Levels are statistically different compared with DPDS (*, P ≤ 0.001; n = 6–9) and AMS (**, P ≤ 0.01; n = 3) by Student's t test. (E) Percent relaxation by 100 μM DPDS or DATS with or without 1 mM GSH; each bar represents mean ± SD of four to six experiments. (F) Representative polarographic traces of DADS-induced H₂S production by entire aorta (eight segments, ≈30 mg fresh weight; red line) and simultaneous O₂ concentration (blue line) in 10 mM PBS with 50 μM DTPA, with 10 mM glucose (Glc) and 100 μM DADS additions at the arrows, in the 2-ml closed multisensor respirometer chamber.